Ginnie Springs Soundslides
Posted: April 21, 2008
Hooray for a truly successful photo story! I went out yesterday with my girlfriend, cousin and two of my friends to Ginnie Springs in High Springs, Fla., about 40 minutes out of Gainesville. Ginnie Springs was the last stop this semester for the Gainesville Explorer series at The Independent Florida Alligator, which, as you know, I have had a heavy hand in.
Well I went out to the springs thinking I was going to shoot a video. I have been taking my new D-SLR camera just in case—ya know, the way photographers nowadays are taking video cameras out just in case? I do everything backwards.
I started with some pictures of my friends and realized that the lighting was just too good not to take advantage of the photography. The springs is also a very low-key, relaxing place. There wasn’t a whole heap of movement going on. So with that in mind, I never even bothered taking my video camera out, I just walked around like a regular photog, fly-on-the-wall style.
I tried my best to adhere to some of the guidelines of composition I learned way-back-when in my photojournalism class, ones have been applying to video lately—rule of thirds, fill the frame, get close, repetition of shapes, etc. One of my hindrances in all of this is that I only own one lens, 18mm-55mm, so when I say I have to get close, I mean it.
All in all, the photos came out pretty OK, but it took more than pictures to make my Soundslides successful. I got very good, rich sound. I just sat by one of the springs for about a minute and a half and captured the sound of the water and people rustling and bustling about. Then I decided, rather crazily, that I would play “Swanee River” on my lap harp over the natural sound. Then I did a voice over. The voice over could have been better, but I couldn’t believe how nice the music and the natural sound went together. My first few shots are of a bus riding by with some inner tubes and a bunch of people. The sound of the laughter, water and music gave it a going-to-camp feel.
So check out my audio slide show of Ginnie Springs for yourself, and tell me what you think. It may not be the best Soundslides in the world, but this is the best slide show I’ve done since I made one about a dance teacher here in Gainesville a while back, and it is officially my favorite Gainesville Explorer piece.
Maybe for one of my next posts, I’ll recap all the videos and slide shows I made this semester for the Gainesville Explorer series, grade them and talk about the dos and don’ts I learned from them.
- Categories:
- Audio, Journalism, Photography, The Alligator, Video